Test Cricket Captains #3: India

For a while it’s been hard to even conceive of an alternative to India’s current test captain, MS Dhoni.  Dhoni is arguably the best-performed captain in the world at present, perhaps the best captain in India’s history, and I would suggest he’s the best keeper-captain ever in the game.   To some degree his elevation to the role and great success in it was unexpected, but its ending is also now hard to envisage.

In the last few years the team has moved on from the era of middle-order giants who almost all had a time as captain too, but less predictably it has also moved on from both of its longstanding openers.  Virendra Sehwag was Dhoni’s test vice-captain, and Guatam Gambhir was elevated when Sehwag led in Dhoni’s occasional absence.  So with their return to the team appearing unlikely suddenly India was wondering who comes next – especially because Dhoni leads his country in all forms of the game, which is a rarity in world cricket these days. 

With so much riding on the choice, one can assume the selector’s appointment of vice-captain is a pretty sure sign of the future.  Vikram Kohli being named as deputy for the current tour to South Africa, therefore stands as the anointed successor.  He has also led at the under-19 level which is a good forecast for most Indian prospects.  Unlike most countries, when the Indian players return to domestic cricket they often come back in as captain of their respective teams as well.  It’s often seen as a routine design rather than as a sign of leadership ambitions. 

What alternatives are there to Kohli?  As the team’s best performed batsmen Cheteshwhar Pujara is the probably the next one to be tapped, if, say, Kohli suddenly lost form.  There have been more bowling captains from India’s past --- Bedi, Venkat, Kapil, Kumble within the last 40 years -- so one should also consider senior bowlers as candidates. India’s current platoon of spinners has been one of the keys to India’s recent success but as only one of Ashwin, Ojha and Jadega is likely to play in most tests outside the sub-continent, I thinks its unlikely one would be named as captain, unless he was clearly and undisputedly the number one spinner too.  As noted above two of great spin foursome of the 1960s and 70s were elevated at different times to India’s captaincy, but the eleven typically included three of that quartet both home and away, so one being captain did not create a forced-choice as the team’s spinner, too.

Al in all there’s no drama expected when the Dhoni era finally ends, because the big decision has already been made.  Kohli takes the chair, and his senior batsman Pujara comes next.